Rick Castañeda guest posts on No Film School, revealing The 73 Spreadsheets You’ll Need to Finish Your Feature Film.

He kindly shares:

“If you’re thinking about making your own feature film, I’m hoping this gives you an abridged, table-of-contents-style sketch of all the different parts of filmmaking. So many articles and interviews are all about writing, working with actors, camera choice, and the other creative aspects of the film, I thought it might be useful to get into the actual nuts and bolts. We absolutely loved making our film. All these spreadsheets helped us to get there.”

He discusses each one from the perspective of his second feature “All Sorts,” and includes some examples.

I like his advice for Credits:

“Just for keeping track of all the lovely folks who participated on the film. I know you’re thinking this should be in the post-production section, but start this on day one and just add people as they start to come into the life of the film. It’s easier than sitting with a blank slate all the way at the end of the film.”

Here are the titles of most of the spreadsheets Rick used:

Pre-Production Spreadsheets

• Budget spreadsheets
• Team spreadsheets (possible producers)
• Location spreadsheets
• Contact spreadsheets
• Casting spreadsheets
  • Background
  • Auditions
  • Confirmed Cast
• Scheduling spreadsheets
• Art/props spreadsheets
  • June’s Diego vs Anthony spreadsheet
  • Calendar spreadsheet
  • “Go June” signs spreadsheet
• Costume spreadsheets
• Investor Spreadsheets

Production Spreadsheets

• Call sheets

Post Spreadsheets

• Footage spreadsheets
• Editing spreadsheets
• VFX spreadsheets
• Credits spreadsheet
• Master Rights Grid
• Music Cue Sheet
• QC Notes/Fixes

Crowdfunding Spreadsheets

• Targets/contacts
• Reward lists

Distribution Spreadsheets

• Distributors
• Deliverables spreadsheets
• Screening invitees/attendees

PR/Marketing Spreadsheets

• Social Media
• Marketing
• Email lists
• Film Festivals
• Published Articles

My take: Wow, that’s a lot of spreadsheets! What this actually reveals are the myriad jobs indie filmmakers routinely take on. With more money, each of these activities might be accomplished by a specialist in that one field. When you’re truly indie, you just do it all yourself. No wonder Rick resorted to these spreadsheets to track everything. You should too.